Hearts in Houston
by butterfly collective
Summary: Set after "Mustang Madness", C.J. tries to help a sorority sister of his escape her abusive husband. Just borrowing the characters for fun.


Oops another FF story based on a writing prompt...This one takes place not long after "Mustang Madness"...hope you enjoy it, thanks for reading and the feedback!

* * *

"I just thought it would be okay if I told your wife the absolute truth," she said, looking at him.

Gary glared at her, finishing the last of his shot of whisky. C.J. looked at him, knowing that he had gone way past drunk, yet still managed to stand on his feet. Anna had left the house and had gone to stay with a friend of C.J. who Gary didn't know while C.J. had gone back to their house to pick up some of her things.

Anna had given her the key and she figured that Gary would have been long gone, had driven off to some nearby bar to get sloshed to forget that his wife had finally left him. But he had been sitting in the dark study hitting the liquor hard when she had entered the house quietly and had gone straight to Anna's bedroom.

He had been standing in the doorway, glass and bottle in hand watching her when she had been too busy opening dresser drawers and packing a suitcase to notice him. Until he opened his mouth to address her.

"What the hell are you doing in my house," he asked, raising his voice.

She had said that Anna had left for someplace safe to stay and she needed some clothing. When he questioned her right to do that, she had told Anna the truth about the death of Gary's mother. She had been beaten to death by her husband, Gary's father, when Gary had been only six. After watching Anna blame herself for her husband's abuse of her, C.J. had wanted to explain to her client and friend that it had been part of a cycle of violence moving from one generation of his family to the next. She had been its victim, not its perpetrator.

Anna appeared to have understood but C.J. knew it would take her longer to integrate it into her own way of thinking about her marriage. At least now she had a safe place to do just that. Only now Gary demanded to know where his wife had gone. She knew she could never tell him.

"Look…Gary…she doesn't want to see you right now," C.J. said, "You both need your space and you need to get some help."

"For what," he said, "For having a wife who's not home when I need her. For marrying a woman who mocks me by running off?"

C.J. closed the suitcase and looked towards the door, the only way out of the room and Gary stood in the middle, with his bottle in hand, though the glass had fallen onto the carpet in silence. She looked in her eyes and didn't like what she saw there. He was nearly six feet tall, but very muscular, an ex-cop who had been suspended for drinking and a fight on duty with another officer who had looked at his wife. He had been ordered to see the police psychiatrist to return to work but hadn't done so. He liked the bottle much better and hitting his wife. She had taken Anna to the hospital earlier that week with a broken arm which had been the last straw. The threatened violence today had only cemented C.J.'s determination to protect her friend.

But she knew by looking, that Gary didn't see it that way. He saw her as a nosy interloper butting into where she wasn't wanted and taking his wife away after filling her head with some feminist nonsense. And now he stood in his own house between her and the doorway out of the bedroom.

* * *

Anna had made herself comfortable in Chris' house drinking a cup of herbal tea in the guest bedroom while the other woman had left her alone for a while. She had found C.J.'s co-worker and friend to be very nice. Talkative yet providing Anna with her own space to think about everything that happened and what she needed to do next. She sat on the bed, hoping that C.J. would return with some of her things from home, clothing and a few items that would make her feel better in a new place. Tomorrow morning, she would be heading into a temporary shelter to get help at creating a new life for herself without her husband. While she remained here, Chris' husband Dan had been using his connections as a former police officer to find out more about her own husband's shady background.

Gary had been her high school sweetheart but had now become her monster. He had pursued her relentlessly when he had been a senior and she a sophomore and a sorority sister of C.J.'s. She had been flattered by his attentiveness and had soon fallen under his spell, but she had never known much about his life. Except that his mother had died when he was very young and his father had been very domineering. The few photos that Gary had of that part of his life sparkled with tension between him and his father and of course, were never put on display but were hidden in a drawer which she had discovered by accident while cleaning house one day.

Where could she have gone so wrong, what had she missed? Surely a man who could turn to violence on the turn of a dime, in a mere split second had to have come with a warning tag attached. But if he had, she had totally missed it and had nearly paid for that oversight with her life.

She tried to push the reproaching side of herself back in its corner while she sipped her tea and pondered her future.

* * *

Dan looked at the computer screen, not believing what appeared in front of him. He looked over at where Matt worked at a desk wrapping up a report on a case he had handled in Louisiana, having just stepped off of his plane an hour ago. He hadn't even gone home yet to C.J. but he had known she would still be working until later that evening. Work had been relentless since she had returned from her sabbatical spent working for the ranchers of Silver Fork on keeping their land just a couple of weeks ago.

"Hey Houston," Dan said, "Can you take a look at this guy?"

Matt walked over to where his friend sat and looked over his shoulder.

"Background check?"

Dan shook his head.

"It's the husband of a woman staying at our house," he said, "He beat her up starting not long after they got married and she finally walked out on him."

"Good for her," Matt said, "She needed to get out of her before he killed her."

Dan agreed.

"She's staying at Chris because Chris never met her or her husband," he said, "That way in case he goes looking, he won't find her."

"That's smart," he said, "So she's staying until the shelter opens?"

"Yes," Dan said, "They already have started intake and she'll have a spot by tomorrow morning…if she goes."

Matt heard the edge in the ex-cop's voice and knew that Dan had likely encountered many cases of spousal abuse where the woman checked out of the hospital and went back to her husband only for the cycle to repeat itself again. Most men who beat their wives were contrite and used every tool in their arsenal to get their wives to come back, reasserting themselves as the dominating presence in their lives.

"Any kids involved?"

Dan shook his head.

"No," he said, "One thing in her favor, that and she has some determined friends."

"That helps," Matt said, "but she has to make her decisions on her own and that's the hardest part but at least she took the first step."

Dan grimaced.

"One of them is your girlfriend," he said, "She's C.J.'s former sorority sister."

Matt smiled, knowing that Anna would be lucky indeed to have someone like C.J. in her corner.

"Fran's also setting up counseling for Anna at the foundation," he said, "She's back from maternity leave with guns loaded."

Matt had known he had done the right thing by giving Fran the job as director of his foundation for women in crisis and she had taken that ball and run with it. Now it was the most renowned of its kind in all the state with even experts flying in from all over the country to tour the building and speak with its spirited director.

"I hope they can help give her the resources that she needs," he said, "but are these his complete records?"

Dan shrugged.

"He was an ex-cop in L.A. at some point," he said, "Maybe you can call up Brody and Hoyt back there and see if they knew him."

"I'll do that."

"His mother was murdered by his father," Dan said, "I had to dig around just to find out that much."

"Domestic violence?"

"Well he beat her to death…"

Matt nodded, understanding about the generational cycle of domestic violence and how it often passed from father to son like an unwanted gift. But Gary still remained to be free to decide whether to adopt or reject his conditioned responses to anger and frustration and Matt didn't think that gave him any excuse to take either out on the nearest woman.

* * *

C.J. studied the man blocking her way out. Anger defined every feature and his stance, definitely aggressive. She tried to keep calm, to look at him and smile, in an attempt to disarm him long enough to get past him.

But if he was looking for a fight, she could do that too.

"Get the hell out of my house," Gary said, "but not before you tell me where she went."

C.J. shook her head while calculating how many steps to the doorway.

"I can't do that," she told him, "You broke her arm Gary. She doesn't want to see you right now."

She hoped that at this point, he would at least look contrite but no, his face looked angrier.

"You tell me right now where I can find her or…"

She folded her arms after throwing her shoulders back.

"You'll hit me too," she said, "You'll break my arm just like you did to her."

He glowered.

"You'd better tell me…"

She saw his hand tighten around the bottle in his hand and she realized it had just become a weapon. But she hadn't gone in empty handed either, her firearm concealed under her pant leg. She never went around without it these days and even though her brand lay hidden under a tattoo, it still served to remind her.

He took a couple unsteady steps towards her and she braced herself for what might come next.

"Look, just let me out of here," she said, "and I'll help you get some professional help."

"You'll call the cops."

"No I won't…not if you turn yourself in."

He moved closer, the bottle held at his side but she had prepared herself. It only took seconds these days.

"Why you…"

He jumped towards her moving several yards waving the bottle, while she stepped back.

* * *

Matt called L.A. and talked to Brody who told him that Gary had been a pretty good upstanding cop…until the drinking started. After that, he began missing work and filing shoddy police reports, and he had ducked inside a bar to grab a couple of Scotches while assigned to stake out a pawn shop while working narcotics.

"Did he ever get addicted to drugs," Matt had asked.

"No, but maybe that's because he only worked narc a couple of months before they transferred him to auto theft," Brody explained, "so they could keep a better eye on him."

That made sense but why had he continued to spiral downward?

"The department will offer assistance to any cop in trouble," Brody said, "But a lot of them won't admit here's a problem because they're afraid it will wind up in their jacket that they saw a shrink. Mess up their chances of advancement…"

"They got him out of there," Matt said, "and he went downhill even further."

Brody agreed.

"Say what the hell are you doing working," he said, "Shouldn't you be home making up for lost time with your girlfriend?"

"She's still working herself," Matt said, "but we usually meet some place for dinner."

"I can tell she's going to have a hard time keeping you in line," Brody said, "You know if you can't keep up with her, there's always guys who will happily step in."

"Like you?"

Brody sounded offended but Matt knew he was teasing.

"I'm a married man," he said, "and for some reason she's got it in her head that she loves you."

Matt smiled.

"I'll tell her you said hi when I see her…Bye…"

* * *

C.J. looked at him approaching again, wondering if he had his gun with him but she figured it must be stored someplace nearby if he kept it in the bedroom. It would only take her seconds to reach her own but then he had jumped her, forcing her to grab his arm, while he swung the bottle at her head. It struck her head and she thought she heard it crackle. Stars floated in front of her but she struggled to push them away and remain focused on him and his next move.

She knocked the remnants of the bottle out of her hand before he could slice her with it and he tried to grab both of her hands together. C.J. knew well enough to not let this happen so she kept them moving and kept them apart.

"You conniving bitch," he spat.

Now she knew she had pissed him off royally and that she needed to be prepared for anything. Because right now, he sounded as if he wanted to kill her and he could do that if she didn't guard her vulnerable spots while trying to get past him. He tried to strike her face but she ducked and it hit the wall where the fight had moved towards. She struck a few blows of her own mostly to stun him so she could get past him quickly. But the man seemed to be solid as rock. He tried to grab her and she deftly avoided his hands.

"You're going to tell me where she is…"

But she didn't and that made him angrier. He lunged for her suddenly, this time hitting her with enough force to knock them both to the floor. Suddenly before she knew it, he had scrambled on top of her and she knew she had to think fast.

* * *

Anna looked up as Chris stood in the doorway.

"What's up," she asked, "Has she come back?"

Chris shook her head.

"It's been an hour and I haven't heard from her," she said, "I called her but just got her answering machine."

Anna's face became grim.

"Maybe Gary came home…"

Chris sighed.

"Maybe we'd better call the police to go out and check," she said, "just to make sure there's no trouble."

Anna nodded from where she sat.

"He's an ex-cop but maybe his own kind can handle him," she said, "but maybe I should go try and talk to him first."

Chris shook her head vehemently.

"No, that's exactly what you can't do," she said, "He might be trying to manipulate you back to him."

"But I can't let anyone else get hurt because of me," Anna said.

Chris went to sit on the bed beside her.

"It's not your fault how he decides to behave," she said, "That's on him."

"But…"

"No Anna," Chris said firmly, "He's responsible for his own actions, no one else. Believe me I know."

Anna looked perplexed.

"How could you… I mean you're married to a great guy and you're having a baby."

Chris face darkened a bit.

"That's now," she said, "but when I was younger, in high school back in the town I grew up in, I had a boyfriend who abused me."

"Really, I would have never thought…"

Chris smiled.

"Neither did I until it was almost too late," she said, "He was the son of one of the council members and when I tried to tell people about it, they didn't believe me. They thought I was trying to make trouble."

"So what did you do?"

Chris played with a piece of the bedspread.

"I left there and came to California," she said, "I went to school and I temped until I met Matt and C.J. and they hired me."

"That's great."

"I worked my way up to regional vice president which is how I wound up in Houston where I met Dan," she said, "It took me years but I realized that I deserve to be happy but I have to make it happen."

Anna digested that.

"I was happy with Gary…for a while."

"That's how it will be if you go back to him," Chris said, "You'll be happy for a short time before the nightmare resumes all over again."

Anna nodded.

"We'd better call the police…"

* * *

C.J. felt his weight on top of her and it took her to a different place and time. And the fear threatened to overtake her as it often did, no matter how hard she had worked to keep it at bay. She took a few breaths to ground herself as he tried to grab her arms and then she struck back.

"You're going to tell me if I have to choke it out of you," he said, breathing hard himself.

She knew as a former officer he was trained in neck holds that could render her unconscious within seconds and she had to keep him from attempting that and get him off of her. She had to force him quickly on his back with a proactive movement of her own body. She didn't have as much strength as he did but she could taken what she had and build momentum, enough to disable him. He reached for her neck and that proved to be his mistake.

She used her hands as well as shifted her hips in order to flip him off of her and after a couple of attempts, it worked and he landed on his back with a thud. He appeared dazed but she knew it wouldn't last so she put her body weight on top of him to pin him and then rammed the heel of her hand into his face, and heard the cartilage of his noise make a crunching noise.

His next noise erupted into a cry of pain.

She sprung onto her feet then and then reached into her ankle holster to pull out her gun which she then aimed at him. He looked at her from the floor stunned at her audacity no doubt.

"Don't move an inch," she ordered, "or I will shoot you."

He looked into her eyes and didn't doubt it. At that point, a couple of police officers rushed in and they looked at her. She nodded to them and put her gun away.

"Do you have a permit for that," one asked.

"You better believe I do," she said, watching them handcuff Gary to take him to jail.

Another officer who looked like a sergeant came in the room.

"Looks like you two have this under control," he said.

One officer gestured to C.J.

"She handled it Serg, before we even got here."

The sergeant looked over at C.J.

"Your head's bleeding," he said, "Do you know that?"

She absently reached to feel her head and came back with some blood. It throbbed where it had been struck by the bottle.

"He hit me but it was a glancing blow."

He looked doubtful.

"We'll get some EMTS to look at that but it might need stitches."

She shrugged.

"Won't be the first time," she said leaving the room.

* * *

Matt sat at the desk having just got off the phone with a client. Dan rushed into his office.

"What's up Dan," he asked, reading his expression.

"It's C.J.," he said, "She's on her way to the ER to get her head stitched."

Matt felt his stomach drop.

"What the hell happened?"

Dan folded his arms.

"She was over getting Anna's things for her when she ran into Gary."

Matt already prepared to leave his office.

"I'm on my way over," he said, "Houston Memorial right?"

Dan just nodded.

* * *

C.J. had sat patiently in her poor excuse for a hospital gown waiting for the doctor to stitch up her head wound. He had noted the nearby scars interlaced with her eyebrow but said nothing. After all, it wasn't any of his business.

"You need to keep the area dry and clean until they're removed young lady," he said, "and I'd stay away from fights for a while."

"Am I free to go?"

He just looked at her shaking his head.

"You don't have a concussion from the bottle hit but the area might be sore for a while," he said, "and you're lucky he didn't hurt you worse."

She knew that and didn't need anyone to remind her but it hadn't been luck, she knew how to defend herself, to prevent anyone from ever getting the upper hand on her again.

"Can I have my clothes back," she asked.

He nodded.

"I'll have the nurse get them," he said, "though you might want to rethink the shirt because it's got blood on it."

She ran her hand through her hair knowing she needed to go home and wash it proper. Then she remembered…

What she remembered came rushing through the door.

"Houston…"

He looked at her, his face etched with concern.

"I'm fine, really," she said, "It's just a scratch."

The doctor having finished patching her up just shook his head at her again before leaving them alone.

"I need to get dressed."

"C.J. what the hell was going on today?"

She felt irritation begin to hit her and tried to fend it off. They really didn't spend that much time together these days, what with the traveling both did for their work. And she really had missed him this time when he'd been gone nearly a week.

"I don't want to argue," was all she said.

That stopped him, because he felt the same way and wanted to make up for the time he had been away from her, the time they could never get back.

"Gary's in jail awaiting arraignment in a couple of days," Matt said, "on a variety of felony charges."

"That's good," she said, "He beat his wife again and threatened to kill her."

"He tried to kill you too."

She shook her head.

"I can take care of myself Houston," she said, "You should know that."

There were so many things he wanted to say to her. Rethreads of the issues that still existed between them, concern about not seeing enough of each other, concern about each other being in dangerous situations, of one day not coming home…but right now, all he wanted to do was hold her tightly because he had missed her that much.

"Let's get you home," he said.

She nodded but looked down at her gown.

"I need my clothes."

His brow rose.

"Only until you get home…"

She smiled.

"That's really sweet of you Houston but the first thing I want to do is take a nice hot shower," she said.

"Okay…but after…"

"Who said anything about after, cowboy," she said, taking hold of his shirt to pull him closer to her, "I just got wounded here and I might need some help in the shower…"

He smiled much more broadly then.

* * *

Chris got off the phone and turned to Anna and Dan.

"Gary's refusing to plead bargain his case," she said, "So he's going to court."

Dan sighed.

"I think it's bravado on his part or denial," he said, "They can throw the book at him or he can go into a DV diversion program. It's his choice."

Anna looked at the both of them.

"Whatever he does is his choice," she said, "I've got my own life to live."

Chris walked over to Anna and embraced her.

"That's right," she said, "and you've got a whole wonderful life waiting."

* * *

C.J. chewed her steak thoughtfully on the sofa in the living room while Matt did the same. They hadn't gone out to eat this time but had cooked themselves up some dinner…sometime after the shower of course. Her head throbbed a little bit but she felt much better. Nothing a little wine, some great steak and the attention of a good man couldn't fix in short order. And she had all three.

"I was just worried about you," he said, suddenly pushing his plate aside.

She looked up at him.

"I know," she said, "Now you know it feels when you leave on these cases and I have to wait for your return."

"C.J., it's only until I decide what to do with the L.A. firm."

A sore subject for her because she knew what it had meant to him, how deeply it ran back to the day he had first thought of becoming a private investigator as one of the wealthiest men in the country. People had questioned his decision and boy, they had whispered behind his back that he was downright insane to do it full-time essentially turning his back on his conglomerate.

But not her. Never her. She knew him as well as she knew herself.

"I think you should do what you want," she said, "When the right decision comes along, you'll know."

He wished he could be as sure about it. His main option was to keep the company in name and hand it over to Brody and other senior investigators to manage on a day to day basis with Roy there in L.A. to help them. More and more each day, that seemed to be the right direction to pursue but making the final decision…harder than he thought.

But he looked at the woman across from him as he often did and he knew that his life remained in Houston with her. She had worked diligently to rebuild her life from the ashes and had reaped the rewards of it. But she loved him and wanted him to be happy too. She had made peace with her ghosts in L.A. but Houston had become her home.

"I guess I just need some time…"

She nodded.

"I'm sorry that you worried Houston," she said, "but my career means a lot to me. I really want to help other women like people helped me."

He knew that she felt that as deep in her marrow as ever today when Anna had needed her. C.J. could never watch injustice take place and then just walk away. Neither could he and it was that quality among others they shared that had knitted them and their lives together.

"We'll talk about it some other time," he said, "I just want to spend the time we have together with you."

She smiled at that and moved into her arms where she stayed. Her heart had found its home with his already.


End file.
